This invention relates generally to transport aircraft galley systems, and more particularly relates to systems to air chiller supply air recirculation systems used to cool aircraft galley food carts.
Aircraft galley systems for modern transport aircraft incorporate food carts which are cooled to prevent food spoilage prior to use by the cabin attendants for distribution of food to passengers. These food carts are typically interfaced with cold air supply systems in the galley designed deliver cooled air via air ducts to cool the interiors of the food carts. Galley cooling systems are typically mounted in a galley cabinet, so that cool air is discharged from the galley cooling system and circulates over or through galley food carts in a galley cabinet to return to the galley cooling system to again be cooled and discharged. However, such galley chilling systems can be misused for cooling an indoor space of a galley area in hot, humid climates during in-flight operation by opening bay doors of galley chilled compartments, which makes it difficult to maintain chilled food in galley food carts at or below a required set temperature, and typically results in the ingestion of a large volume of warm, moist air in the galley cooling systems, which in turn can cause freezing of an evaporator of a galley air chiller unit, requiring premature and/or unscheduled defrost cycles in such galley air chillers.
An air conditioning dehumidification system is known that is provided with indoor and outdoor air, in which indoor air not cooled by passing through a heat exchanger but is directed by a face and bypass damper through a bypass duct extending around the heat exchanger from an input mixing plenum to an output mixing plenum at the output of the heat exchanger, to control cooling of air flowing through the input mixing plenum. Another air conditioning system is known in which a rate of cooling is controlled by varying the operation of refrigerant compressors and by varying flow of recirculating air between a path through an expansion unit where air is cooled and a path bypassing the expansion unit. First and second dampers are controlled by a thermostat, so that the first damper is closed as the second damper is opened.
It would be desirable to provide an apparatus that can reverse chiller airflow in an aircraft galley chilling system to avoid premature and/or unscheduled defrost cycles in galley air chillers from the unnecessary ingestion of moist air when aircraft galley food cart bay doors are opened, and that helps maintain chilled food in aircraft galley food carts at or below a set temperature to limit food poisoning risks. The present invention meets these and other needs.